Author: Nancy J. Bond (NS, Canada)
Contact: nbond at ns dot sympatico dot ca
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Categories: [beautiful]  [nature]  

Autumn is Nature's denouement--the bittersweet conclusion of her summery plot.

The changes seem swift and distinct. The grass, though still showing green in places, is now webbed with heavy dew. Sunset has assumed a northwesterly slant and, as daylight shrinks, nights grow colder. Sandbox toys and hanging flower baskets look strangely out of place.

As one who has often protested the season, I've come to realize that the clear days of autumn do hold a certain exhilaration. Although it is a time of taking-down and putting-away, it's also a time of making-ready, in anticipation of the months ahead.

Locking up the cottage or clearing the flower beds that just weeks ago were an extravagance of color may seem like depressing chores. But autumn is also a season of riches. Grain fields are harvested and orchards are swollen with crimson apples and yellow-green pears.

The buzz of a chain saw may now replace the drone of the lawn mower and on chilly evenings, one can detect the pungent scent of wood smoke as it spirals from neighboring chimneys.

The swallows that entertained us all summer with their ballet of swoops and dives have left on their southward journey; but the bluejays have taken their place with their raucous, but welcome, call.

As the days shorten and evening sun is filtered through gold and purple haze, hardwood trees await the one, cold night that will finally set off the explosion of riotous color across the countryside.

A poet of unknown identity once wrote: "Just after the death of flowers, and before they are covered in snow, there comes a festive season when Nature is all aglow."

Yes, autumn may seem stern as the pleasures of summer are extinguished; but surely, the sweetness of this season far outweighs its cruelty.

Other submissions by this author: :  Simplicity  ::  Alive  :

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